Passionfruit Wheat Ale
Pasteur Street Brewing Company

This is my second from Pasteur. I had their RIS stout in 2018 and gave them a cursory micro-review. So I went on their website to see how they evolved in 7 years. And they have a new life ! They claim to have over 600 bars selling their beer. Pasteur itself has 13 taprooms, 10 of them in Ho Chi Minh City and with really sophisticated menus; indicating to me that they brew to pair with their menus.

This is unheard of growth to me. The mission of this 10 year old is to capture Vietnam and its ingredients in their beer to share with the Vietnamese, but also to export to the world. (Lime Ventures brings it to the U.S., but I've only seen it in the Bay Area.) Scrolling thru the photos of their 13 taprooms alone reminded me what many have told me: that Vietnam is must visit. Huge Overall Hugs to Pasteur Street.

As for their Passionfruit Wheat, it has lots of character for a wheat ale. Passionfruit is particularly aromatic and is a good choice for wheat ales which, to me, tend to be bland. Well-balanced despite all the fruit all the way to the finish. Medium-mouthed. Soft with the wheat. Refreshing.

 

 

 

 

12 oz can from Brewers Haven. Pale, cloudy straw color, fine fizzy head. Nose is all passionfruit, sweet and tropical. Taste brings a little tartness, more passionfruit with some underlying bready notes. Damn refreshing on a warm day.

A: The beer is hazy yellow in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a short white head that quickly died down, leaving a narrow collar of white bubbles around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of passionfruit are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell and has flavors of passionfruit along with underlying hints of wheat.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: The use of passionfruit in this beer adds an extra dimension and prevents this from being bland.

Serving type: can

 

 

On tap at the brewery taproom in Hanoi.
Appearance: hazy pale golden body with a good white head.
Very fruity aroma and flavor reflects a generous load of passion fruit. Moderately tart.
Medium-light body with medium carbonation.

Gosh, it's been a while since I obtained this as the date on the bottom of the can read 7/5/17 but the first few of these I had were quite nice and that was the case with this as well. Can't say that I've ever had a beer from Viet Nam before, let alone this brewery, and this was quite a first impression from Pasteur Street as this was as good as any Fruit and Field beer that I've reviewed on here!

Lovely, golden hue to this as it was bright and largely radiant while being topped off with a quickly-receding head that was quite loud in it's retreat. Only a few bubbles lingered on my pint glass as the lacing was quite sparse, not to my surprise. That was the weakest aspect of this beer as the rest of it was quite enjoyable. Loads of passion fruit, hibiscus, and cactus in the nose with some grass underneath that. That was the case with the taste too as it was quite bright, floral, and with the right amount of sweetness to hold my attention and a bit of tartness to offset that. So much slickness and jack fruit in the taste that this held my attention from the get-go as it never lost it's grip on my palate...

Booze? It might be here but with so much loveliness going on, you'd be hard-pressed to find it. With a basic, boisterous malt presence and a crisp finish, this was the perfect beer for the summer - let alone the waning days of it that I'm currently hanging on to. I'm not terribly familiar with Fruit and Field Beers but if more were like this, that style would be more popular for imbibers such as myself. This was subtly wonderful and worthy of higher ratings on here, as it was hard to find any flaws in it whatsoever...

Yesterday was to have been the ocCANsion of my Happy New Russo-Japanese-Vietnamese-Chinese CANned Beer Sunday, CANrades (Week 754) (добро пожаловать обратно в С новым русским-日本人-Tiếng Việt-中文 Пиво воскресное, товарищи (неделя 754), but I only have one Vietnamese CAN & the Chinese beers bogged down because of needing either/both adds & pics. 8={} I am now back on track, thanks in part to my local, in-person trader @tone77 .

From the CAN: "Passionfruit Wheat is a classic American style wheat beer made with fresh squeezed passionfruit from Đà Lạt, Việt Nam. We have sourced the finest passionfruit from VN farmers and infused it at the peak of freshness. PSBC uses only 100% fresh juice, no extracts or flavorings."

I did some pre-Crack! in-CAN agitating since it was a Wheat Ale with Fruit adjuncts & I wanted to ensure that all was in suspension. Following the Crack! of the vent, I went with a heavy-handed C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass for the same reason. It foamed up to create just under two fingers of fizzy, foamy, soapy, bone-white head with lousy retention, quickly falling back to wisps. 8=( Color was a deeply-hazy/lightly-cloudy Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5) as was expected. Nose had the perfume-y sweetness of Passionfruit with a light tang from the wheat malt. Mmm. Mouthfeel was thin & watery, about what I usually get in Wheat Ales, adjuncts or no. The taste was slightly tart, quite fruity and easily identifiable as Passionfruit! I used to really chow on tropical fruits in the Navy & not only was I a regular guy as a result, but it really led to me chiseling myself into the best shape of my life. My current recovery has seen me eating a LOT of FF&V again & I wonder why I stopped. Yum. Finish was semi-dry, still quite fruity, enough to keep the wheat tartness in check. It went really well with the heat & humidity of this Summer evening. YMMV.

 

 

I actually really enjoyed this - reminded me more of a light ale than a true wheat beer. Golden slightly-hazy color with a little head and very minimal lingering lacing. Smells of some nice citrus fruit and grain. Tastes of lots of fruit - passionfruit, orange, lemon - with just the right amount of bitterness and sweetness. Just a little tart, perfect amount. Also has some vanilla, grain and malt. Smooth mild mouthfeel, good carbonation. Very enjoyable and definitely sessionable.

A: Pours a fairly hazy bright yellow in color with moderate amounts of fine active visible carbonation rising along the edges of the glass and moderate pale golden yellow colored highlights. The beer has a two finger tall sudsy fizzy off-white head that quickly reduces to a medium to large sized patch of very thin film and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Minimal amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate to strong aromas of tropical/passionfruit over the top of very light aromas of wheat + pale malts with a hint of grainy sweetness.

T: Upfront there are light flavors of wheat + pale malts with a hint of grainy sweetness. That is followed by moderate to strong flavors of sweet tropical/passionfruit. No perceptible hop presence and no bitterness. The passionfruit flavors linger well through the finish.

M: Light to medium bodied with moderate amount of carbonation. Slightly crisp upfront with a relatively clean finish.

O: Easy to drink with well hidden alcohol. Refreshing and enjoyable with really pleasant passionfruit flavors + aromas. I could easily have a couple of these and I could see how the light mouthfeel and passionfruit flavors/aromas would be really enjoyable in a hot weather climate.